The Great Recession of 2008 has shaken national economies around the globe, and many are worried about its possible adverse consequences for population health. Studies most often find, however, that life expectancy rises faster during economic downturns. This research investigates the effect of recessions on mortality by investigating the proximate sources of change in life expectancy, and then relating those sources to economic trends. Specifically, change in life expectancy is a function of an age component (change in the cause-specific average age at death) and an incidence component (change in the proportion of deaths due to each cause). By separating those components, and investigating how they are associated with periods of economic growth and retraction, the project will produce a deeper and more nuanced understanding of recession's effect on life expectancy in a cross-national perspective. Because of concerns about the health effects of the Great Recession, the results will be of interest to policymakers as well as to demographers and other social scientists.